King Arthur Flour's Thanksgiving Buns

The recipes on King Arthur Flour's website are amazing. Normally I would never try to recreate them on my little blog because the KAF bakers do an amazing job of step-by-step instruction. This particular recipe is one that one of the bakers, PJ Hamel, writes is a must for Thanksgiving. I was intrigued! I love to make bread and rolls and, although I have my favorites, I am always looking for new recipes. This one is a WINNER. Not only are these the best rolls that I have ever made, but they are the best I have ever had. Seriously. Better than those awesome rolls you get at a steakhouse, better than anything that has ever come out of a package, and better than any rolls I have had at a bakery. I can't say enough about how amazing they are!! I did have to change a few things, though, so I thought I would post my version. I changed things out of necessity, not because I thought of a better way, but the next time I make them (Thursday for Thanksgiving) I think I'll make them exactly as I'm about to show.

You will need:

3 1/2 cups KAF bread flour (I was out of all-purpose)
1 envelope yeast
1/4 cup potato flakes
2T sugar
1 tsp Kosher salt
4T softened butter
2/3 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm buttermilk
2 8-inch round baking pans
*********
2T melted butter

This recipe makes 16 dinner rolls. I thought about halving the recipe, but didn't. So glad I made all 16. They went quickly!



Here's why I changed what I changed: I went to the store to pick up potato flakes and dried milk. I don't use instant potatoes, but they sell them in single packs for 40 cents. A bargain and I didn't feel wasteful because I used most of the package, but the dry milk was another story. The cheapest I could find was more than $8 and that was for 10 single-serving packs. The original recipe only calls for 3T, so I didn't buy it. If you have it, use it! I ended up omitting it altogether, but figured I would use buttermilk instead of regular milk in an attempt to make up the difference. The result was AMAZING, so I think it worked.

Add all of the dry ingredients to a mixer bowl and combine lightly.



Then add the wet to the dry. (I poured my buttermilk into the water in a measuring cup and zapped both for 30 secs in the microwave to warm them. Worked great!)



Mix with a dough hook until you get a soft, smooth ball--around 5 minutes.



Lightly grease a bowl and place your dough in it. I dampened a towel with hot water and then squeezed out the excess water and placed it over my dough. Store in a warm location until it doubles in size. It will take about an hour.



Turn out the dough onto a greased surface. I sprayed my ugly (but squeaky clean) counter tops with cooking spray.



To get 16 (relatively) even pieces, cut the dough in half, then half again and so on.








Make the pieces into round balls and place 8 in each lightly greased round baking pan.



Allow to rise in a warm place. I did the warm towel thing again. It should take about an hour.



Bake in a 350 degree oven for 22-24 minutes. When they are done, brush them with the melted butter.



I didn't even give them a second to cool. You can flip them out onto a dish and then pull them apart. I just stuck a knife down in the pan and wedged one out. I couldn't wait. Your mouth will water just smelling them!



I asked the Goose if I should make them for Thanksgiving and she said, "you should make them every day." Tink even loved them and she is not a bread fan. This recipe will be our family's "must bake" for the holidays. Thank you King Arthur Flour!!



Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls

I love that this recipe uses whole wheat, but still tastes light and tender like a white bread roll. And is there anything better than a dinner roll? Okay, cake, but bread is awesome. Goose and I tease all the time that we could live on bread and water and be perfectly happy. From the time you put the yeast in the water to sit until the rolls come out of the oven is about a two and a half hour process. Not a quick bread, but totally worth it.

You will need:

1 cup less 2T warm water
1 package yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1T butter, melted
1 egg
1 cup plus 2T whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
*****************
2T melted butter




Dissolve yeast in the warm water with a tsp of the sugar. Let stand for 10 minutes or until creamy.



Mix together the rest of the sugar, salt, the 1T of melted butter, egg, and whole wheat flour in your mixer bowl. (Use the dough attachment.) Add the yeast mixture and mix.





Add the white flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. At this point you can turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes or keep it in the mixer and mix at a medium speed for about 6 minutes. Watch it and periodically pull the dough off of the dough hook.



Form the dough into a ball...



Take the dough out of the bowl, oil the bowl lightly, and then put the dough back into it, turning lightly to coat. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.





Punch down the dough, cover, and let it rise until doubled again, about 30 minutes. Punch it down again and divide the dough into 8 large balls. Put the balls onto a lightly greased parchment covered cookie sheet.



Let rise, uncovered, in a warm place for 40 minutes or until doubled.



Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with the melted 2T of butter.







Oh, man. I have to make these again soon! It is worth turning on the oven in this suffocating heat for these babies. They taste even better than they look, too. Okay, one more picture.



Enjoy!